High school composer embraces melody, noise

7:25 PM,
Mar. 20, 2014

Joe Misterovich is a senior at Summit Preparatory School in Springfield.

Written by

Ed
PEACO

Most musical composers think in terms of notes, chords and bars. Joe Misterovich thinks about sound first - and sometimes exclusively.

That means writing a chamber piece that includes a digitally generated drone that meanders in and out, or creating a noise piece that sounds like variations on the dense buzz that an old television makes when there's no reception.

"My music comes from paying attention to sound a lot, and being excited about different sounds. Just being around sound gets me excited about making music," he said, noting among his influences Karlheinz Stockhausen, Béla Bartók ...